THE FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS 



197 



stigmas of the pistillate blossoms and should send down 

 through the style certain pollen tubes which come in contact 

 with these tiny ovules 2iD.d fertilize them. When they are 

 'thus fertilized, the ovules will begin to develop into seeds. 

 The fact that these ovules are developing into seeds will 

 cause the surrounding ovary, which is the outer part of the 

 little cucumber or squash, also to develop, and the whole 

 will finally mature into a squash or cucumber with the seeds 

 inside. 



If you look at these flowers again, you will see that the 

 pollen is sticky and well protected within the lobes of the 

 yellow corolla. You will also see that the stigma is likewise 

 somewhat sheltered by the lobes of its corolla, and it will 

 easily be evident that there is no likelihood that the pollen 

 will either fall or be blown by the wind from one flower to 

 the other. How, then, is it carried ? This is a question you 

 can easily answer by a few moments' observation on a 

 bright summer day. You will see great numbers of bees 

 of many sizes and kinds visiting all these flowers. If you 

 watch these bees, you will see that their bodies are more 

 or less dusted with pollen and that when they enter the 

 pistillate blossoms, some of this pollen is rubbed off upon 

 the stigmas. Consequently you will know, that while the 

 bees are gathering pollen and nectar to store up in their 

 hives or nests, they are also helping the plants by carrying 

 the pollen from one flower to another. This carrying of 

 the pollen from stamen to stigma is called pollination, and 

 the bees which thus bring about this pollination are called 

 pollenizers ox pollinators. 



If you examine many strawberry blossoms, looking es- 

 pecially to see whether they all have about the same num- 

 ber of pistils and stamens, you will probably find that 

 upon some plants the flowers possess both sets of these 



